PORTFOLIO GAO ZIYI
Ziyi Gao Studied in Beijing Wuzuoren High School of Fine Art as a high school student, then enrolled by the New Media Art program of Architecture and Art Faculty in Beijing Jiaotong University. 2014: Participated in the style design competition held by Architecture and Art Faculty and won the first prize Aug 2014: Participated in the Web Page Design Competition of University Student in Beijing City and won the third prize as a team Mar 2015: Went to Jingdezhen City of Jiangxi Province for research Sept 2015- Dec 2015: worked as an intern in the Fifth Element Gallery of 798 Art District Jan 6 2016: hold a solo exhibition named “the memory of ceramic chip� in the Fifth Element Gallery of 798 Art District, Beijing
Contents 1 Case study 2 Ceramic design 3 My exhibition 4 Animation
1 Case study case stuy 1
The monotonous exhibition of traditional paintings can no longer meet people’s growing demands on spirit and culture. With gradual technological progress, we can offer more possibilities for exhibitions to enrich the cultural connotation and thematic expression via means such as new media. The Last Supper displayed in Netherlands, for example, applied new media to the exhibition and demonstrated a fine combination. The exhibition, which was held in Santa Maria delle Grazie Church, employed an expression of media mural to represent the renowned painting of Leonardo da Vinci, allowing the viewers to interact with the device and explore more about this Renaissance masterpiece. Instead of hanging paintings on the wall for the viewers, the exhibitor brought to us a reasonable arrangement of space, art works and high-tech in the form of new media, giving us a better idea about the story behind the painting: when accessing the painting to learn about a certain character around the table and its mind, you could touch the screen with your fingers. This is a good example of HMI which can give you more details about the work. In the process of enjoying the exhibition, the viewers felt as if they were on a rich emotion journey, since the dim light totally created a perfect atmosphere. And atmosphere creation is a key for an eye-catching exhibition.
case stuy 2
The Van Gogh Alive, an interactive exhibition unveiled in Glory Mall, Beijing, exhibited another approach for the viewers to feel a different starry sky of the artist: all those works were not the original ones, instead, they were all presented in the form of video. From 28th April to 30th August, 2015, over 3000 Van Gogh works were displayed in an art castle covering an area of more than 2000 square meters from Xintiandi Taiping Lake. A series of huge high resolution pictures were switched between dynamic and static states on the screens and curtains with symphony as the background music—this brought the viewers close contact with the tiny detail of Van Gogh’s every stroke, showcasing the painter vividly in the world of art. While the visitors were impressed most by the dynamic version of the Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival during the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai, the Van Gogh Alive interactive art exhibition presented to more viewers the famous paintings in new appearance with digital technology and passionate music. Van Gogh’s life was accompanied with ill luck and frustration, and he only sold one of his works throughout his life. But his inner world was highly sensitive. The exhibition used 3000 odd pictures to present the viewers the difficult life of this immortal artist and his genius creativity. This was an opportunity to be immersed into Van Gogh’s spiritual world and the divine use of colors by his eternal works. As passionate music plays out, the viewers may ramble around in the painter’s colorful space to feel the depicted bustling life and the stories and emotions behind. Vincent van Gogh, as the special exhibition of Shanghai International Arts Festival, was launched by Grande Exhibitions from Australia. It had been displayed in a number of countries, including the U.S, Italy, Russia and Israel, with the use of the latest sensory technology SENSORY4. In Netherlands, more than 65000 viewers were attracted by the art device that reinvented the entire exhibition hall, enabling all visitors to explore a remote space in a 30-second journey. This shows that this new-media-based art form is drawing more audience, affording them an amazing 3D space experience that is absent in traditional exhibitions. I believe this is also a new trend for future exhibitions. New media will be better used in more exhibitions, using diversified angles to present the theme of a given exhibition. It means something to “change the watching pattern of audience from time to time”. There is already no national boundary for online museums since we are now living in digital times and never stopping trying new ways of presentation. While the exhibition only has a history of 200 years, the digital pictures could be zoomed as you like. This made everybody just thrilled with an opportunity of using digital to transform the way we look at the world and Van Gogh. In today’s digital times, when will we display Wen Zhengming, Shen Zhou, Wang Yuanqi and Dong Yuan to the world in digital forms? There is a high expectation.
2 Ceramic design Marketing research By researching in Jingdezhen City, watching ceramic related documentaries and reading professional books and articles, I managed to get a basic understanding about the category of glaze color in relation to the ceramic fragment in my work, and the identification of different chinaware’s historical background. For instance, the color of sky blue which usually appears on the chinaware created by Longquan Kiln in Song Dynasty (960-1279) is my favorite because it is as same as the clear bright flawless color of sky we could see after rain. Besides, although the blue and white porcelains created in Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) are less bright than their counterparts of Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and Qing Dynasty (1644-1912) in color, but they are more magnificent and meaningful. The cause of differences in color mostly lies in the difference of glaze’s ingredients. Since craftsmen of different dynasties extracted natural pigments from different ores, it is sure that these ores will generate different colors on the glaze. In addition to color, I believe that the shape of chinaware is also a vital factor. During my research time in Jingdezhen City, I saw craftsmen whose professional skills were inherited and developed from generation to generation. With the magic touch of these people, the once simple clay is turned into different chinaware like cups, bowls and vases with various shapes and features.
Mounting of the works is also an important step: what frame should we use to make a given work even better? I discussed a lot with the frame store owner about how to frame those works, what kind of frames should be chosen, what color should be chosen for a backboard and paperboard, and how much space should be left between a paperboard and the edge of painting‌ I seldom encountered with these issues before, and through my solo this time, I developed some basic knowledge of painting mounting.
2.1 Ceramic design in QINGDEZHEN sketch drawing I once saw several jade pendant sets of Shang Dynasty (B.C. 1600 - B.C. 1046) and Zhou Dynasty (B.C. 1046 - B.C. 256) in the National Museum of China. Since people in those two dynasties lived with strict sophisticate hierarchy, only nobles were allowed to wear these jade pendants. These jade pendants are formally called Yuhuang (smaller ones) and Yuheng (bigger ones) for their flat half-ring shapes. In ancient times, people usually used the word “false jade” to show their appreciation toward delicate porcelains since both jade and porcelain share similar clear translucent appearance. People in China always have a special feeling toward jade and porcelain. If someone is outstanding in virtue, we will describe him/her “as nice as jade”. As for porcelain, it shares the appearance with jade but exists as a different substance. This feature is really interesting to me. As a result, I want to have a try with this feature in the creative process and take the form of jade pendant as reference to finish my work by glazing clay into “porcelain”.
texture craving
Manufacturing process
clay cutting
Wedging
painting
glaze
Final works The First Phase: the works that created in Jingdezhen City “Crooked Porcelain Vase” “Chain”
“Chain”: sketch drawing, clay cutting, texture craving, painting, glaze, kiln firing
Final works “Crooked Porcelain Vase�: wedging, throwing, painting, glaze, kiln firing
2.2 Ceramic design in BEIJING Inspiration After taking my experience in Jingdezhen City into consideration, I purchased various ceramic fragments in different glaze colors from the antique market of Panjiayuan. Since these fragments were created in different decades, I was able to enrich my work by demonstrating the length of time. When it comes to the form of artistic demonstration, I came up with several kinds of plan to show those fragments. For instance, I may use a string to connect all fragments together according to their inner order in a visualized or abstract way. This was the most difficult part in this project because I not only wanted to rearrange these fragments, but also hoped to embed my creativity and innovation inside. As a consequence, I turned to a book named “Quyuan Fenghe” (literally means “lotuses blooming in liquor brewing courtyard”) for help, so as to learn more about traditional Chinese aesthetics and see if I could apply related attitudes and disciplines in my work for a new breakthrough in the field of form.
I searched for inspiration in traditional Chinese ink painting. The blanks that purposely left on the painting could make the fishes look more alive and vivid.
I also sought for inspiration in natural forms. In the end, I found the zigzag flowing rivers.
Manufacturing process
In the creation of “Flowing�, I tried to use a natural form in the arrangement of ceramic fragments. Owing the the fact that these ceramic fragments are made from natural clay, I hoped to use these fragments to demonstrate something natural too, such as rivers, mountains, fallen leaves, flying snow flakes and so on. However, although we all know that ceramic is made from clay, we can not tell this connection from their appearances. Therefore, the natural form I planed to demonstrate in my work doesn’t have to be realistic too. In other words, it could be abstract. Besides, since there are a thousand Hamlets in a thousand people's eyes, an abstract form will be better for people to form different opinions toward my work. As for this work, I wanted to place these fragments in the form of a river to create the feeling of flowing water.
Final works Then the work “Little Fishes” was created. From two sets of canvas I purchased in early days, I chose the one with one 40cm×40cm piece and two 40cm×30cm pieces to create my work. By connecting these canvas together horizontally, I wanted to expand the form of ceramic fragments. However, I still left a lot of blanks on the work to create a visual effect of clearness since “emptiness is another form of fullness” in the theory of traditional Chinese aesthetics. It shares the similar meaning with an ancient Chinese saying: “there's an end to the words, but not to their message”. All three fishes were placed on different canvas. They were created with ceramic fragments in three different colors according to the rule of triangular composition, so as to make the layers of picture more distinct. Besides, I also employed white acrylic paint on the background, then used large-size brushes to create the texture of ripple. After that, I use small-size brushes with blue and black paints to add more details as well as remove the tedium from the picture. The application of blue paint is so little that it could perfectly blend into the whole picture without causing any inconsistency”
“Flying Snow Flake� is also a work that inspired by natural form. I guess it is probable that no one has ever thought about creating snow flakes with ceramic fragments before.
In the work of “Fallen Leaves�, I used ceramic fragments with different textures and historical backgrounds to create a comfortable image in a random way. Since these fragments are different in thickness, they accidentally create a stereoscopic effect with their sizes and heights. The differences in sizes and heights also form a visual comparison by themselves, just like the different heights and sizes of naturally falling leaves in any moment of autumn.
2.3 Installation design 1 cloth Picture of creative process: I firstly washed the ceramic fragments I purchased before with water, then used clay to create the form in my mind - a graceful female body in a beautiful cheongsam. Eventually, I attached fragments on this clay figure. During the process, I once considered about attaching these fragments on an object, but I can’t find an ideal one, so I decided to create one by my own. Owing to the shrinkage of clay, if I attach ceramic fragments on the clay before it totally dries up, cracks will appear and ruin the whole work. Therefore, I failed to create an ideal finished work, but it is still a fruitful preliminary attempt to combine clay with ceramic fragments.
The second series of work: installation artwork “Clothes� wash ceramic fragments
attach ceramic fragments
create clay figure
2 Fragment
Arranging the work Broken Blue and White Porcelains
This installation artwork consists of scattering broken ceramic fragments and vases. Some of them are slightly broken porcelain vases, some of them are severely damaged fragments of vases; some of these fragments are from modern replica of ancient blue and white porcelain while some of them are fragments with a long history. Chinaware are hard but fragile. They are different in form , texture and glaze, but also connected closely as a kind. Taking their own “stories� and memories of previous lives, these fragments scatter on the ground. At that moment, fragments from different dimensions and times blend into each other as a whole.
I tried to bring a more direct viewing experience to my audiences with ceramic fragments. Consequently, instead of a well-arranged image, I simply dropped these fragments and chinaware on the ground to create a purposely random pattern. The fragments on the ground were all different in size and color. Some cups were slightly broken while others were completely shattered. Together, they tell people a story about “ceramic fragment�.
In addition, I also wanted to understand more about the complete process of shattering, a process in which a whole is separated into multiple individuals. Therefore, I dropped a blue and white porcelain vase while using high-speed camera to record the whole process and present all details (including the moment before this vase dropped on the ground and the moment it shattered) to my audiences in a slowmotion way. By creating this work, I want to express my idea of exploring the previous life memory of ceramic fragments. Multiple photos and a video clip were used to record the whole process. video link: https://vimeo.com/153507076 video link: https://youtu.be/
The inspiration of these two works comes from the masterpieces of Edgar Degas. Since I always like the paintings created by him, I wanted to use ceramic fragments on his works. Besides, it is also an attempt to combine ceramic fragment with water color pigment, so as to enrich the form of whole picture. In the beginning, I used water color pigments to draw the general outline of body as well as face and leg. The ceramic fragments are used to cover their skirts. One of these works featuring warm colors mainly consists of red fragment while green and white fragments are used as supportive materials. The other work featuring cool color consist of blue and white porcelain fragments and white ceramic fragments.
Dancing Girls
Blue and White Porcelain
In my point of view, I can use things and methods other than ceramic fragment attaching to demonstrate blue and white porcelain. Therefore, I decided to create this series of work. I firstly created an ideal “abstract� pattern with blue and white porcelain fragments, then I employed Adobe Photoshop to modify the visual effect. After personally researching local print factory, I had this pattern printed on silk scarves.
3 My Exhibition There were two exhibition projects I personally participated in, one of which was my solo exhibition on 6th January 2016 under the theme of “Ceramics Incarnations”. I think there are unlimited presentation forms for art, and we don’t have to limit ourselves to the form of traditional paintings. The exhibition theme, which is about “ceramic tiles”, somehow carries some special meaning to me as it first came up during my trip to Jingdezhen Town in March 2015. I spent a month making porcelain in a kiln there, and from the time I hold them, I began to realize that porcelains do have temperatures and emotions. All these were endowed to them by us. Since then I’ve cherished a strong feeling toward porcelain and couldn't help casting a few more sights when I saw various of such porcelains in Beijing. One day I came by Panjiayuan Market, and I saw broken pieces of porcelain on the floor. They were very old and instantly conveyed to me a sentiment of age. They were just quietly lying there, each with slightly different cracks, like naïve kids grinning with shiny sunshine falling on them. At that moment, my imagination just began wondering: What were they once like and from what utensils did they come? Why and how they ended up broken? Maybe, they were once a vase on the shelf in some wealthy guys’ house; or bowls by which poor guys used for food. Every broken porcelain piece has its own story, it has traveled across time and space and appeared before us with the memory from its last life. The span in time and space poses no obstacle for us to appreciate its beauty. And even better, they are about to take on a new form to resume their vitality with last life’s memory. We can make this all happen. Let the broken pieces continue their unpredictable legends, and let the broken pieces of different senses of ages, textures and glazing colors communicate and blend with each other; who knows what kind of chemistry and visual effect will come out from that. This is also my original thought for the exhibition, I pieced them together in different forms so everyone may develop his own feeling…For the moment, let us call the exhibition “Ceramics Incarnations”.
1 THE THEME OF CERAMIC MEMARY Inspiration
Every time I see broken ceramic fragments in the antique market of Panjiayuan, I will try to imagine their once complete appearances. It provides me infinite space for imagination. In my point of view, every ceramic fragment must has a background story. Therefore, all I want to do is to let those fragments “tell” us about their stories. Given the fact that most of them have a long history, I believe that they possess many vivid stories, or even the memories of people’s previous life. Eventually, I decide to tell people a story in relation to ceramic fragment. This ceramic fragment might be a part of a beautiful vase which was bought and sold for multiple times until a careless moment in which it broke. Then I will start to think about how to use these fragments to complete my work. After finishing choosing the theme of exhibition, I created a series of theme-related works, attempting to demonstrate the theme of my exhibition in different forms of language. Besides, I drew some sketches for them too. When I was creating these works, I also considered the place and space these works should be in the exhibition. Moreover, before I actually started to create these works, I had already bought all materials I may needed. For instance, I went to the antique market of Panjiayuan twice, and the painting material shop near my university for numerous times. I even considered the form and frame of painting mount in advance of creating works. It took me about a week to prepare the creation of my works. I usually went out and bought materials in the morning. If some materials were hard to obtain from physical stores, I would purchase them from the internet. In addition, I also personally went and researched the locations which are related to my works, such as the antique market of Panjiayuan and the factory which was later responsible for printing and dyeing the designed texture of traditional Chinese blue and white porcelain. The researches and work creations were conducted simultaneously since I believed that some nice feasible ideas or plans for creation would flash into my mind during the research.
Preparation
Arranging the exhibition
Works and space My friends and I made a series of porcelain piece works. I thought of several feasible plans in terms of dealing with the spatial relationship of the works, and hung them by myself, to see which arrangement is better. I wanted to create an effect of "dialogue� between last life and this life, and one wall was used to present the last life of the porcelain pieces by adopting 3D imaging to restore the pieces into actual vases, and another wall was works I made by combining all those porcelain pieces. But that did not come true due to technical reasons, instead, I used some device to lay those fragments on the floor in the middle of the exhibition space. I meant to convey my ideas to the viewers: what were those fragments once like? In what forms did they exist?
Adjusting spatial positions of the works to see what are the best effects during the arrangement.
Exhibition show
Communicating with visitors in the exhibition
Check-in
Photo of the artist and visitors
Opening speech about the inspiration and process
Relevant works In terms of the pre-exhibition advertising, I used an APP named MAKA to make the invitations covering mainly the exhibition theme and my original intention. I then sent them to my friends and invited them for the opening party. I also created a public platform on WeChat through which I posted texts with pictures to my friends so that they knew what I had been busy with. Another advertising approach was to design a poster showing the exhibition theme. I placed it at the entrance of my university canteen, and came to students to see if they would like to come, if so, made a simple registration. I adopted both online and offline advertising approaches, hoping for attracting more attention from people. In addition to the university, I also put a poster on a wall of 798 painting studio. I hoped both my friends and other art lovers could come.
2 THE PAINTING AND ENGRAVING The theme of exhibition What is printmaking? Printmaking is one form of formative arts by which the authors can manually produce and print the board of different materials. A limited number of copies can be produced from the board without affecting the artistic value of the original work. The earliest printmaking form is wood printmaking such as the Sermon Illustrations on the cover of Diamond Sutra printed in 868 AD during China’s Tang Dynasty, and these works were all made by craftsmen according to the original works. Only until 18th century the painters began to make the painting, produce the board and print to create a printmaking work. Printmaking belongs to formative arts, and refers to creative printmaking. This art form can be divided into several branches due to the difference in the inking of board, the board material and approach of board-production and printing. Why choose printmaking as the exhibition's theme? We know that ordinary families cannot afford the original masterpieces, but there is increasing number of people who love artistic works. Therefore, this is a promising market that will allow untouchable art to walk into the life of households. This can satisfy the demand of art lovers. In addition, the art form already has a group of followers and the artists will authorize their works through signature. In this way, the works will have some collection value, and by doing so we can raise our art taste and lay a good foundation for the future if we are to collect the original works. Exhibition information The Fifth Element 798 Gallery Internship from September 2015-January 2016 The printmaking exhibition I participated in planning was held from 15th-17th December at the Fifth Element 798 Gallery. The theme of the exhibition was printmaking.
In the early stage, I’m responsible for selecting works from artists and compiling their information. Then I will go to printmaking factories to see how the original works are made into printmaking works. Given many types of printmaking, I learnt about different producing methods and processes of printmaking. The selection of printing paper is also a key, since we care about whether the original work can be represented to the largest possible extent. We have selected a large group of young artists to make the boards for framing, meanwhile Internet links are available for online promotion before the exhibition. At the same time, we have learnt about the market values of many artists’ works and the orientation of contemporary art market.
Link to the exhibition: mp.weixin.qq.com
Information and price of some exhibited items
Floating on the white cloud by Peng Si 69.5*103cm 2011 36/50 RMB 15000
Standing alone on chilly autumn by Peng Si 60*50cm 2011 15/50 RMB 7500
A lonely man in autumn, paper porous printing by Peng Si 55*103cm 2010 29/50 RMB 15000
South Mountain, paper porous printing by Peng Si 55*101cm 2011 4/50 RMB 15000
The Horse in Half-Length, silk screen printing by Xu Lei 62*133cm 2011 23/68 RMB 45000
The horse portrait, paper porous printing by Zeng Jianyong 75*70 2015 25/99 RMB3680 Together paper porous printing by Li Dan 70*45 2015 10/30 RMB 3680
The horse portrait, paper porous printing by Sun Hao 72*67 2015 10/30 RMB 3680
Exhibition show
My main responsibility on the exhibition site is to receive visitors: explain the contents of paintings and the style of artists; give them more ideas about what is printmaking work and what is the appreciation space for works that have been authorized by artists; and the number of boards has different meanings to different people. So the number of boards produced on the work is an important criterion for clients in making decisions; I feel this is interesting. Though not the original ones, printmaking works have their own charm.
3 Animation LOTUS
IMAGING
link:https://vimeo.com/153506313
E-mail: 3253554509@qq.com Tel: +86 18201680069
Study Proposal
Introduction： A production made by ceramic chip
I’m interested in exhibition planning, and hope to learn more professional knowledge in your university, understand what is exhibition planning and how to do it. The exhibition theme was originated during my trip in March 2015 to Jingdezhen Town. I spent a month making porcelain in a kiln there, and from the time I hold them, I began to realize that porcelains have temperatures and emotions. All these were endowed to them by us. Since then I’ve cherished a strong feeling toward porcelain and couldn't help casting a few more sights when I saw a lot of such porcelains in Beijing. One day I came by Panjiayuan Market, finding broken pieces of porcelain on the floor. They were very old, lying there quietly and conveying a sentiment of age, each with slightly different cracks, like naïve kids grinning with shiny sunshine on their face. At that moment, my imagination just began wondering: What were they like and from what utensils did they come? Why and how they were broken? Maybe, they were once a vase on the shelf in some wealthy guys’ house; or bowls by which poor guys used for containing food. Every broken porcelain piece has its own story, it has traveled across time and space and appeared before us with the memory from its last life. The span in time and space poses no obstacle for us to appreciate its beauty. And even better, they are about to take on a new form to resume their vitality with last life’s memory. We can make this all happen. Let the broken pieces keep their unpredictable legends, and let the broken pieces of different ages, textures and glazing colors communicate and blend with each other; who knows what kind of spark and visual effect will come out? This is also my original thought for the exhibition, I pieced them together in different forms so everyone may develop his own feeling…For the moment, let us call the exhibition “Ceramics Incarnations”. (Purposes and Causes)
I attempt at this stage to make various presentations by using these ceramic chips: arrange the chips to form scarves, postcards, installations or different natural scenes and combine them with watercolor propylene pigments to create some works, making the ceramic chips “talk” by rich forms and languages. In this way, they can really communicate with us, creating a kind of resonance amongst us. Another part of my exhibition is an exploration on 3D technology. I hope to bring the chips back to what they were, but possibly what I suppose them to be rather than they actually were. We are now at a point where all the works and attempts have been made. So what we are doing now is to figure out the relationships between the works and space, so as to maximize the exhibition effect. Due to the insufficiency of my understanding to high technology, I failed in completing the “last life’s memory” of the chips and such like works in an effort to highlight my exhibition theme.
Development
Application of new media art in exhibition
During MA stage, I tried to improve my exhibition by more high technologies and interactive designs, and think about how to better use interactive designs to produce a perfect combination effect. Since my theme is about the history and present status of the ceramic chips, I hope to restore these broken chips to what they were, using their own languages to tell the audience. I thought 3D technology can serve as an important media to restore them to blue and white porcelain vases. These vases are able to rotate 360 degrees so that every local detail can be clearly seen by audience. And these vases are all pieced together by the broken chips. I believe an excellent exhibition curator should make use of the internal relationship between space and works to bring audience an extraordinary experience. In that case, I think the exhibition is successful. An
excellent curator also needs to have his own unique ideas, expressions and characteristic languages to enrich the form, element and theme of exhibition. Just like a successful painter, the curator must have his/her own unique style. You can see this from the exhibition of Gu Changwei. He adopted different media, imaging, and installation in his photography works to enrich the form and connotation of his exhibition from multiple angles. But he also lacks of something such as applications of 3D technology. In my view, this is a major development direction for future exhibition, also one space for further improvement. During MA stage, I hope to dig deeply into the knowledge, take part in more social practices and hold more successful exhibitions. I’m trying to break the traditional concept of simple arrangement, combine but surpass the art of life, and link the thoughts of exhibition curators, artists, works and audience via digital media art and interactive approaches. The application of new media art is not only able to increase the interaction with audience, but also reflect the level of technological application, hence, affecting the presentation of an exhibition to the audience. New media art, taking digital technology at its core, is different from painting, sculpture and other presentation forms. It is a new art form that integrates sound, light and electricity. Highly attractive atmosphere and unexpected presentation effects are totally attainable if new media art is applied flexibly in the exhibition. Moreover, the art is also able to attract the audience and afford them real-life interacting experience.
Methods: In order to hold a solo exhibition themed with “ceramic chips” wherein I can apply new media art, I mainly adopted the approaches of site research and literature reading. Firstly, first-hand material is a key in the process of research. Due to my enthusiasm for porcelain, I went to Jingdezhen Town in March to learn about the craftsmanship and process of porcelain making; I also watched a CCTV series documentary “Porcelain Story” to learn more about porcelains of different ages and about the difference in various raw materials (CCTV, 2014.1). After that, I made some attempts and worked with those materials.
Back to Beijing, I often wandered around in Panjiayuan Market to search some broken old ceramic chips, and found some Song Dynasty’s LongQuen Celadon Porcelain and
Yuan Dynasty’s Blue and White Porcelain, and wondered if they can be used in my works. A Jingdezhen craftsman mailed to me a box of slightly damaged ceramic chips and some cups made from his kiln, giving me a lot of inspiration to reproduce the diversity of material sources and textures. They interact with each other with my help, they can also talk and communicate with each other in their own language.
Since I hope to enrich my exhibition and diversify its theme, I investigated several print works in Beijing to learn about the printing process. I gave them the e-edition pattern of my designed blue and white porcelain chips, and they gave me the finished products. One of them is a scarf with blue and white porcelain chips pattern. Besides, I also often go to the National Art Museum of China, Today Art Museum and the National Museum of China, to feel the relationship between the exhibited items and the themes, the on-site arrangement of the items, the framing of the works and the lighting skills. There is something to borrow from all these when I design my own exhibition.
Secondly, I reviewed literature to gain some second-hand resources. By reading a large amount of excellent exhibition planning cases and the related planning process, especially cases about how to apply new media art to exhibitions, I expanded my knowledge reserve and made proper preparation to launch my own exhibitions in the future.
Resources: I gained the first-hand resources via on-site study. My trip to Jingdezhen Town to learn about porcelain-making craftsmanship reaped some useful resource for my exhibition; the visit to the scarf print works broadened my horizon in terms of exhibition diversity; and I also came to a painting frame shop and acquired some knowledge on framing. Choosing the most suitable framing can maximize the highlights and theme of a work. So I chose a wooden frame made of natural material, which fits with ceramic chips well.
Another second-hand resource channel is gaining access to books and websites. I read a lot of Chinese and foreign excellent cases of exhibition planning, and I also turned to Internet for successful cases of using new media art to exhibitions as well as the
supporting techniques. We need to know all these things in our work: understand every step behind the successful exhibition, explore different effects at different spaces, and lighting skills at the site. In addition, a successful exhibition must have an eye-catching theme and thought-provoking spiritual connotations. Some works did reflect certain social phenomenon, which is one important reason why I love installation art. In order to gain these resources, I mainly went to my university library and the National Library of China. I encountered many real-life obstacles in applying the new media technology of restoring the pieces to 3D simulated vases. This attempt didn’t work out due to technical reasons, but in the process I learnt a lot from my teacher in this regard and understood whether it's possible to apply the technology in the future. I have benefited a lot from all these experience.
Both Chinese and foreign renowned museums and galleries will be the main sources for my future study (Gallery and museum resource). In my view, the exhibition curator is a barometer for culture and art, and a backbone force in raising public aesthetic taste and setting the orientation for art market. I look forward to the days when I have realized a perfect combination between new media art and exhibition planning knowledge, thus presenting to the general public more extraordinary exhibitions.
Bibliography 1. Lian zhiping, 2013. Pingyao International Photography Festival [Twitter]. Available at: http://vision.xitek.com/vision/201308/30-132072_4.html
[Date 6th Jan accessed]
2. Porcelain story, 2014. [TV] CCTV Two,1 January 2014. Directed by Wang yan. Available at: http://tv.cntv.cn/video/VSET100184835753/74a82512dc174c82b0331b4fe367fde6 [Date 5th Mar 2015 accessed] 3. Gong lin,2015.new media art. Avaliable at: http://baike.baidu.com/link?url=cP3meCvd4yl655nnzxCSSkwmFKmOsNDIjcfpOHSYVJ9sEQlvRUeTo_81LA6e8yWV zFCsVfRNw3QFtHxKM26XPiQGWRYVFdy5OyM6onK8yC [Date 20th Dec 2015 accesed] 4. Andrea Bellini(2014) Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Gallerists But Were Afraid to Ask.ISBN 978-7-5155-0918-1.Gold Wall press.P10
Application of New Media Art in Contemporary Art
“New Media Art” sprang up in the late 20th century. The development of art is inextricably linked to a combination of science and technology. On numerous art exhibitions, it is worthy to note that artistic works are gradually presented in the form of “Mew Media Art”. Nowadays, instead of limiting themselves into specializing in a certain technique, the artists make more efforts to seek for a brand new process, and combine science and technology with thematic material based on objective conditions of thematic concepts and exhibition environment. “New Media Art” undoubtedly brings a possibility for art, which also becomes an approach for artists to express their philosophical concepts and thoughts on everyday life. This new kind of media is also the source of artistic creation. At the same time, it breaks the traditional and inherent ways of display during the exhibition. Such development of “New Media Art” is attributable to the high technologies in new era.
“New Media Art” is also widely used in modern art. As the Shanghai World Expo in 2010 was still fresh in people’s memory, the most impressive work was the multimedia image work -- Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival, which was made with new media technologies. On a huge screen of 120 meters wide and 6 meters high, the image unveiled a prosperous and bustling city during the earlier Song dynasty. The scene was filled with thousands of people on the street, a superb collection of wonderful goods on the market. With water waves rippling and countless boats swaying in the wind, the boat trackers were singing their own song. On the huge winding picture scroll, rough waves stirred up in a high quality simulated river, making the audience feel themselves a part of the scene in Bianjing State, 900 years ago. As a consequence, the high quality dynamic version of Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival has become the treasure of China Pavilion, demonstrating that new media art has completely blended into China’s mainstream art as one of the most critical art media.
Artworks and Scenario “We really love an artwork only with two crucial elements.” (Sasaki Junsang 2013). The artwork and scenario are complementary to each other, since the existence of scenario is absolutely not an accessory to artworks. Artists serve as an operator and organizer for such extraordinary circumstance. Art study tends to discuss artistic style or more directly tends to study a kind of remarkable situation and its process.
As an option of artists, the new media requires for scientific capacity in practice and electronic knowledge. The artists have to expertly utilize relevant objects, words, movements, lights and music to create a unique atmosphere, making the audience immersed in their works (Zhang Jing 2011 P16). The development of traditional modern art, post-modern art and futuristic art embrace the same growth process with politics, religion, technology and myths, whilst the new media art is arranged in a certain scenario, atmosphere, process, concept or a space-time.
In Zhijie Qiu’s Work No.1: 1000 times’ Repeated Writing of Lanting Xu, it is easy to find that the artist expresses his artistic ideas via new media, and the artwork also records the artist’s behavior in such a primary way. By repeatedly writing of Wang Xizhi’s masterpiece Lanting Xu on a piece of plain paper, the legible handwriting became vague until the paper was filled with black color. Since the image showed incompact and random fragments of the writing procedure, laying emphasis on presenting changes of object by variation and contrast of image. From a piece of plain paper to a black one in the end, as the elite representative of Chinese traditional culture, Lanting Xu was hardly distinguished during the procedure of repeated writing. Artists were considering about why Lanting Xu, occupying a sublime artistic position, impressed people on every aspect in ancient time, and how it should be combined with contemporary culture situations in China. The artist would like to break the traditional inherent mode and endow a new definition and concept of Lanting Xu by 1000 times’ repeated writing. Thus, it conveyed a pioneering idea as well as a respect and worship for traditional culture under the current way of thinking. From Qiu’s recent works, taking Colored Lanterns Scene at Yuanxiao Festival as an example, his study on vision and text’s elements in Chinese traditional culture when facing various interpretive possibilities in contemporary context can be found. And it seems that the research on this issue had already started from that time (Zhang Zikang 2010). This early new media work gives an expression to artists’ conscious interest and initiative to new medium. “These images carry and express a concept, on the other hand, they reveal an irreplaceable advantage during the process of
popularizing the concept.” (Zhang Zikang 2010 P55)
It is also easy to note from another example that this new media technique is closely related to contemporary artistic tendency and creations. In September 2015, a display of “One-Hundred Banknote” by Gu Changwei in National Art Museum of China also applied diversified new media techniques to express his world outlook. By setting photography, device, video and some others as the media and a 100 RMB banknote as the subject, he produced a batch of extremely creative contemporary artworks with microphotography. The banknote itself is a kind of medium for the value cohesion of labor. Serving as a universal equivalent, a means of circulation, storage, a measure of value and international currency, the banknotes are closely interrelated with the general public’s everyday life. Gu Changwei said: every piece of banknote has its own life, since it’s circulated ceaselessly in individuals’ hands, and becomes old and broken before being recovered and destroyed in the end. Just like a human’s life -- birth, growth, getting old, even to death, no one knows where the banknotes stay and how the banknotes go through. The banknotes develop and influence our world in a quiet way; this is also the unique feature of Gu Changwei’s artwork. The artist has a more profound understanding of such one-hundred banknotes by means of modern video techniques. Then, starting from the banknotes, he tries to explore the deep meaning of our society, bringing endless consideration of art in society.
We use such banknotes every day, but we ignore their details unconsciously. However, Gu Changwei, setting the point of microspor as the starting and innovation point, conducted a series of micro photographing that clearly showed the easilyignored details. One piece of work that remains fresh in my memory is the superimposed connection
of
continuously emerging
one-
hundred banknotes with a beginning number of 1. After the number 1, there were countless zeroes without pause. As we counted: the endless number of zeroes, seized our breath to consider that people’s natural everlasting inflatable and expanding desire for money is just like the endless zeroes on this work. A piece of fine work should make people think about current social problems and bring people a critical way of thinking. Once stepping into the exhibition hall, you may watch a trihedral circular screen showing numerous footprints of visitors and pedestrians in front of the Tian’an Men Square. Based on this, we could clearly see everyone’s facial expressions, walking routes and actions in the same background. Since every individual embodies distinct trajectory of life, so have we ever stopped our internal rhythm to think about what we really want? This is my own understanding of exhibition and most probably everybody has his or her own understanding, this is why I like this exhibition. A high qualified exhibition should offer individuals a possibility for different experience from their own perspective. At the opening ceremony of National Art Museum of China, the curator delivered a speech: “the artistic creation of Mr. Gu embodies rich and various meanings, which involves the audience into pursuing and thinking about the relationship between spirit and substance. Then people can review and criticize our concepts on money while appreciating such artistic works. At the same time, it can spark diverse speculations and produce interaction and communication upon different values.” (Wu Weishan 2015)
Therefore, new media are not only widely applied in modern art, but present a common realistic value and meaning. This new tendency opens up people’s mind, getting involved in audience’s inner world with a new perspective. Meanwhile, by getting rid of the conventional mode of appreciating exhibitions, it well combines space and texts, offering a vivid experience to the audience, and gaining a better insight into the artworks and artists’ expressions of feelings. In this way, it not only increases the forms of exhibition, but also enriches spiritual connotations. I believe that, the application of new media will become more mature in modern art and exhibitions, providing a positive orientation for curation in the future.
Bibliography： Website: 1、Vi s ual i nt er fa ce —co nt e mp o r ar y art e x hib i ti o n o f G u c ha n g we i, 2 0 1 3 . A n n ual Rep o r t 2 0 1 5 -11 -2 3 [ o n li ne] . Av ai lab l e at ：http://www.art-ba-ba.com/main/main.art?threadId=83764&forumId=8[Ac ces s ed 8 t h J an 2 0 1 6 ] .[ O n li ne
i ma ge]
2 、Art - b a -b a C h i ne se co nt e mp o r ar y art co m mu n i t y ，2 0 1 5 -3 -1 7 [o n li ne ].Ava il ab le at : ht tp : // www. ar t -b a -b a .co m/ ma i n/ ma i n. art? t hre ad I d =8 3 7 6 4 & fo r u mId =8 Book：[Accessed 8th Jan,2016] 1、editor-in-chief/Zhang Zikang ,(2011).Today’s Contemporary Art Research Series VIDEO. Today art museum of china publishing house.P50-P60. 2、wang lin,(2014).Chinese Independent art. Sichuan fine art publishing house.P108-P129 3、Hans Ulrich Obrist, (2012)A Brief history of Curating. Gold Wall press.P23-P25 4、Andrea Bellini(2014) Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Gallerists But Were Afraid to Ask. ISBN 978-7-5155-0918-1.Gold Wall press.P10
Planning of Independent Curators for Future Exhibitions As a curator, I think the first thing is to get familiar with the history of contemporary art, as well as its prospect and future development direction under the contemporary context in China. I have been thinking about these questions all the time, believing the indigenous Chinese cultures shouldn’t be forgotten gradually. We should maintain the traditional cultures and develop an art operation model which combines traditional culture with contemporary art in tune with the trend of the era. The charm of Chinese indigenous culture should be presented in B-X025Y018, 110×274cm, Small Version 80×200cm, 2014, Giclee Print
more excellent exhibitions. The forms of exhibitions shall be diversified, rather than restricted in a certain form. New media is a new method of medium, which could turn into a significant form of exhibition in the future exhibition operation. Existing exhibition forms can be transformed and diversified if new media are appropriately deployed. With well-deployed new media, an immersive experience of the charm embedded into art will be brought to the visitors. This is manifested in the exhibition of the “One-hundred Banknote” organized by Changwei Gu, a famous Chinese director. More interactions and interest may exist between human beings and the exhibits. I mean, not only human beings appreciate the exhibits, conversely the exhibits may appreciate human beings at the same time. Just like in wildlife parks, human beings are caged in special vehicles, while the wild animals are running around us, as if the human beings are also a part of the wild animal world. It is far more interesting than the traditional form of “visiting a zoo”, as this case may be for exhibitions. Numerous methods and approaches can be taken to explore the feasibility. In addition to the needs of materials, we need to pay attention to the need of our inner world. I believe this is what I need to work on and also the goal I want to achieve. So I want to study more professional knowledge on exhibition planning in your school and participate in more exhibition planning projects, so as to enrich my life and work experience. Establishment of exhibitions, I think, is still the most important part of an exhibition. Site layout and light design are also important in an exhibition. Moreover, use of words, internal relationship between works and spaces, online propaganda, poster production and printing of manuals are essential for a complete exhibition. After participating in two projects, I have general knowledge of the exhibition planning process. But I know that the experience is far from enough, I need more expertise as a supplement.